The Moon Has Spoken

Severus slowly woke up to the rather wonderful feeling of having someone in his arms. The sun was trying its best to creep past the heavy curtains, and the smell of recently made breakfast floated around them.
Severus wondered idly what time could it be, and lowered his gaze to the sleeping woman beside him. She had a small hand on his chest and a rather sweet smile plastered on her face, which looked colorful for the first time in their entire acquaintance. Her breathing was deep and slow, and her eyes were moving under the closed eyelids.
She was dreaming, and Severus found that a very jealous part of himself he hadn’t known he had was in hights wondering what could she be dreaming of that made her smile in her sleep.
But the rest of him suddenly thought that if he was lucky enough, the Gods were merciful and that blasted psychopatic wizard defeated, he might as well could have the rest of his life to find out.
Keep dreaming.

With a sigh, Severus closed his eyes to do exactly that. He was dozing off again when a loud, intermitent beep nearly gave him a stroke. Fiddler jumped awake and distenganled herself from his arms without thinking.

“Oh, blast, I am late”, she growled. “I was supposed to— Wait a minute…”

She rolled to her side to grab the alarm clock from her bedside table, and stared at it with drowsy eyes. Finally she thought of turning it off, and sitting up on the bed, she mumbled:

“God… Wake up, Fiddler. What day is it today?”

“Sunday”, Severus supplied laconically.

Fiddler jumped yet again, and turned to look at him with eyes wide open. Her hair whipt him softly as she turned her head. She stared at him in silence for what it seemed forever, and then lowered her eyes to look at herself, sitting up on the bed stark naked. She blushed furiously and sunk back into the bedcloths. Severus chuckled as he settled by her side.

“Don’t you laugh”, she admonished him from beneath the sheets. He laughed even harder and lowered the sheet to uncover her blushed face.

“Do you always wake up this disoriented?”, he asked, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead.

“No…”, she answered moodily. “I forgot to turn off the alarm, so, naturally, I assumed I was late for work”.

“Naturally”, he echoed, moving his lips to her jawline. A part of him still could not believe the sheer bliss he was getting from those kisses, because Severus Snape was not the kissing type of man. But after last night, he had discovered he’d become rather addicted to the softness of her skin under his lips, and he wasn’t about to stop doing it just now.
He had expected her to relax under his caresses, but as she did not, he stopped and smoothed a dark tendril away from her face.

“Having any regrets?”, he asked softly.

“Not yet”, she said, and as she felt him tense and try to roll away, Fiddler held out her arms to keep him next to her. “I am sorry! I shouldn’t have said that, it sounded a lot better in my head… I didn’t mean to… I— You see? This is why I have no one… I keep saying stupid things like that”.

“It’s not stupid if that is how you feel”.

“But I don’t feel that way… Tell you what, why don’t we try again? Go on, ask me”.

Severus sighed, but after a minute he obliged.

“Fiddler”, he said, formally. “Do you have any regrets?”

She locked her eyes with his, as she entwined their fingers together.

“No, Severus. I don’t”.

Completely on instinct, Severus smiled and pulled her closer.

“Thank you”, he said softly.

Fiddler flung one arm across Severus’ chest and rested her head on the crook of his shoulder, and, as his eyes widened, she pulled back, still in his embrace, to look at his face.

“Um… Sorry”, she mumbled. “I guess I shouldn’t have”.

“No, no…!”, he held her to him. “It’s… not that. Merely… I am not used to it”.

She chuckled, tracing her fingers on the skin of his chest.

“Well, you know what they say… birds of a feather…”

“Yes. We are really a strange couple, are we not?”

Couple?, she thought. Now, Fiddler, don’t read much into it. It’s a preset phrase, he didn’t mean anything by it. And by the way, have you noticed how he manages to look ceremonial even in bed?

Oh, drop it.

“Are you hungry?”, she asked, changing the subject and not caring.

“Oddly enough, I am”.

“Well, Molly seems to have done breakfast already…”

Severus stretched under the covers and tossed one leg across her flexed thighs.

“I really don’t want to move”, he whispered.

“I thought you were hungry”.

He raised an eyebrow.

“I might think of an adequate substitute”, he told her, eyes glittering.

“Are you teasing me?”, she chortled.

“I believe I am”, he replied, nuzzling her neck.

She shifted in his arms, still covered by the sheet, enjoying the shiver his warm lips gave her. Her skin broke in goosebumps and she saw Severus grin in awe.

“You’re so responsive…”, he mumbled.

He lowered the bedcloth that shielded Fiddler from view, slowly, languidly pressing his mouth to the gradually exposed skin, until he reached her breasts.
Then he lost control.
His tongue circled her nipples, and then he mouthed them hungrily, taking turns between them, getting soft moans from her. Her hands came up to tangle in his hair, drawing his head close to her, eyes drifting shut as she heard his ragged breathing.
With a groan, Severus climbed on top of her, wriggling his lower body between her thighs, whilst his mouth still wandered over her skin, nipping and licking impatiently, rubbing himself against her. His hands slid under her buttocks, drawing her to him desperately.

“Forgive me…”, he breathed, voice raw. “But… I need…”

She held him, roaming her hands over his back, pressing up to feel him, to meet him, to welcome him.

“It’s… all right…”, she murmured. “I’m here”.

He entered her as he suckled at her collarbone, her breasts, her throat; he began to thrust into her with frantic abandon, moaning out of raw need, and Fiddler thought humans weren’t so different from animals when it came to sex after all. But she pushed the thought away and sought his mouth, kissing him fully, feeling his tongue dancing with hers, reveling in the cascade of sensations and the kaleidoscope of images that swirled around her.
Glowing emeralds and bright shades of blue, pretty much like the ones she’d seen the night before, but today they were stronger, dazzling… needy. She felt transfixed both by the sight of them and the strength of her climax, and by the certainty that he needed her. Not just any woman to satisfy his needs, but her, Fiddler Greene.
She squeezed her eyes shut, fighting the pang of tears in them, and wrapped her legs around his waist to draw him closer, Severus still moving inside her at increasing speed. He didn’t last much longer. With a final greedy thrust, he collapsed on top of her, panting exhaustedly, and he buried his head in her breasts, nuzzling them as his breathing evened.
Fiddler held him close to her, caressing his hair, nipping his throat, dragging her lips across his chest and shoulders. He drew back a little to look at her questioningly, and she blushed.

“Well, you didn’t quite let me do it before”, she whispered.

His eyes glittered with something she couldn’t pinpoint, and then he relaxed in her arms, letting her kiss him thoroughly.

“Wonderful…”, he murmured lazily. Eventually, he slid off her and rolled to his side, craddling her in his arms, legs entangled, and he captured her wandering mouth into his own. They kissed for a long time, and Severus mused, rather amazed, that kissing was a superb activity indeed.

“I think they will suspect something”, he said, breathlessly when they finally broke apart.

“Does that bother you?”.

“Not quite. I just don’t think I can stomach the idea of the Weasleys teasing me”.

She laughed at his Snape-ish remark and sighed.

“Well, I’ve stomached them for a while now, I’ll teach you to go through it… In the mean time, you can go down first. I’ll catch up with you as soon as I freshen up”.

With one last kiss, Severus grabbed his discarded clothings and got out of bed. He glanced backwards and grinned at Fiddler, then he left her room with a slight smile still lingering on his face. It definitely had been a while since he’d last sneaked out of a woman’s bedroom… After making love to her.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“You look different”, Hermione told Fiddler as soon as she finally went downstairs for breakfast.

“Do I?”, Fiddler replied indifferently. “How so?”

She added some sugar to her tea cup and sat down. She glanced briefly at Severus, imposing and scowling as usual, not a single line of his face betraying what had happened between them. He didn’t even raise an eyebrow at Hermione’s comment.

“Well, I don’t know for sure”, she was saying just now. “But something’s changed”.

“Um. Maybe it’s because I let my hair down”, in more than one way, she thought but didn’t say. Ginny eyed her thoughtfully and shook her head.

“No, that’s not it”.

“Then, I wonder”, Fiddler shrugged her shoulders as if the subject couldn’t matter less and drank from her cup slowly.
Yes, something was different all right. She had noticed it as soon as she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror before her bath. Her cheeks were blushed, she was smiling widely and she had a love bite on her neck, a love bite she kept currently hidden under a thick tendril of her hair.

“Wouldn’t you know, my first love bite”, she’d told her reflection. And it wasn’t the only one, either. “Well, actually, my first of everything”.

She had stepped into the tub, wincing slightly when she sat, because her hip joints were sore. Pretty much as everything else down there, she mused, but of course, no one had ever told her the afters would be a walk in the park.
Indeed, but it had been wonderful all the same. She had gloried in her memories as she bathed, his hands touching her so intensely, his lips kissing her thoroughly, the bittersweet scent of his skin, the warmf hif his body against hers… No wonder why they all go back for more.

“Fiddler?”

“Hmmm?”, drat, she was doing it again.
She might as well get a neon side on her forehead spelling “I got shagged last night” , for everyone to see. Slightly blushed, Fiddler opened her eyes to look at Hermione.

“You were falling asleep”.

“Oh, was I? Yes, well. I didn’t… sleep much. I think I might take a nap later”.

“Hard day at work?”, Molly Weasley inquired sympathetically.

“Oh, yeah… Hard indeed”.

They heard a choking sound to their left, and when they turned, their eyes met Severus struggling for air and for his temporarily lost dignity.

“Are you okay?”, Fiddler asked, hiding her amusement under a mask of concern.

“Perfectly well, I assure you”, Severus replied in his usual dry tone, putting his cup down.

“Wonderful. Just checking. Are you done with that?”, and she pointed at his plate. At his nod, she took it away and rose from the table to bring the dishes to the sink.

“Oh, Fiddler, leave that, dear. I’ll clear it up”, Molly chided from her chair.

“Nah, enjoy your coffee, Molly. I’m feeling altruistic today. I’ll do the dishes”.

“Thank you, dear”, Molly looked at her intently, with a knowing smile on her face. Well, she didn’t have seven children for nothing, did she, Fiddler thought.

“You’re welcome. Ginny? Would you mind bringing along the rest of the dishes?”, she asked of her as salkealked through the kitchen’s door.
Ginny was chewing on her last bite of scone and couldn’t issue a reply, so Severus drawled:

“I will do it, Miss Weasley”, and he made it sound as if he’d offered to cut off his right arm for Harry’s sake. He rose from his chair and stalked to the kitchen loaded with dirty plates. He stopped with his back leaned on the door to look at the woman he’d made love to the night before. And early in the morning. His lips lifted up in a shark-like smile. He liked the way that sounded.
She was standing at the sink, with her back turned to him, foam up her elbows, and she was humming to herself.

Cinnamon bed,
For your unashamed appetite;
A figurante,
This dance will hurt like Hell.

Oh, bare grace mi—
She stopped abruptly when she felt two slender arms snaking around her, and the weight of a dark head on her right shoulder.

“Why are you torturing me?”, she felt his breath in her ear.

“Severus”, she said. “ you startled me”. She shifted slightly to meet his eyes and leaned back against him. “What do you mean, torturing you?”

“What you said back there”, he kissed the side of her neck, sliding his lips down her skin. She shivered at his touch, and gasped as she got a glimpse of his thoughts. I want you. Now.

How can that be?, she wondered, somewhere between awe and incredulity; there was no surreal image this time, but there was no need, either. She could feel the evidence of his words pressed against the small of her back, and she felt aroused and really close to tears, all at the same time.

“There…was no… no innuendo meant”, she breathed. “I’m… sorry…”

His hands moved stealthily to cup her breasts. He started rubbing her nipples over the fabric of her jumper and she gave a quiet moan.

“I find your apologies incredibly arousing”, he whispered, sliding his hands further down her body.

“S—Severus…”, she managed to say. “We… can’t— Not here…”

“Where then?”, he muttered, licking at her earlobe.

“I—”

“Fiddler?”, they both heard Molly’s voice dangerously close.

“Damned be!”, swore Severus, letting go of Fiddler. He quickly walked away from her to the farthest corner in the kitchen and stayed there, sulking.

“Yes?”

“Someone’s on the telephone, dear”, Molly said, poking her head through the door. “Someone from work, I think”.

“Thank you, Molly”, Fiddler replied, perhaps a bit too loud. “I’ll be right out. I am almost done here”.

“All right, dear”, and she disappeared.

Fiddler leaned weakly on the sink. Her heart was racing and she felt faint. And Molly’s sudden appearance had only too little to do with it. She risked a quick glance at Severus, who was still lurking on his corner. He looked positively dangerous in his dark attire and his feline poise, and rather alluring as well.
This was getting out of hand.

She rinsed the soap off her hand and said, without looking at him.

“I am going to get that call”.

“Go right ahead”, she heard his deep voice reply, and she got an image she didn’t dare to interpret.
But she had no choice, and she left the kitchen with the feeling she had unleashed a ferocious beast.

And she was surprised that she actuallund und it more thrilling than scary.